ISIS Calls ‘Alarming Surge’ in U.S. Mass Shootings ‘Tit for Tat’

An ISIS magazine called mass shootings and other gun violence in America an “‘unwanted’ population control program” that, despite the motives of white supremacist or grievance-driven domestic shooters, is divine retribution for the U.S. war on terror.

In the new 53-page issue of Voice of Khurasan published by ISIS-Khorasan, an article titled “American Boomerang” begins by declaring “tit for tat.”

Calling America a place “where everyone exercises rights for enjoying pseudo freedom” that “also comes up with a price, sometimes too high for the American laymen to pay for,” ISIS-K says that price “is known as ‘American gun culture’” as the article posts graphics showing the rise in gun deaths from 2014 to 2021 as well as a ranking of the country’s deadliest mass shootings.

Much of the article focuses on U.S. foreign policy and civilian deaths in conflicts such as Vietnam and Iraq, and slams the war on terror while calling domestic gun violence “the most severe security crisis America has been facing — on its soil.”

“The recent shooting incidences in America show an alarming surge with no possibility of slowing down soon,” the magazine continued. “…As of June 14th, a total of 19,723 Americans died by guns from all causes: homicide, suicide, and accident. That’s about 119 per day, or five per hour, shot dead by a firearm.”

ISIS-K goes on to cite an FBI report on active-shooter incidents in the United States along with gun casualty data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “These figures are too alarming for a country, having highest military expenditure, aimed at establishing worldwide peace, leaving own home vulnerable to gun related holocaust,” the article states. “These figures are also surprisingly higher than a war torn country in the modern world.”

ISIS-K cites the motives of a few mass shooters — including “the professional gambler, massacring 60 at a Las Vegas resort hotel” who “might be the seeker of ‘some sort of infamy.’”

Ironically, ISIS originally claimed through multiple official and affiliated media channels, including their Amaq News Agency and the group’s weekly al-Naba newsletter, that the shooter who attacked the Vegas music festival in 2017 was one of their own. ISIS persisted for months in their claim that Stephen Paddock had recently converted to Islam, went by “Abu Abdul Barr al-Amriki,” and “carried out the attack in response to calls for targeting coalition countries.” By the time investigators discovered he had no known fidelity to any religion or ideological movement, ISIS had widely disseminated their disinformation in what was likely a bid to try to inspire followers to commit similar-style attacks.

“US experts may also pinpoint proliferation of violent video games, drug addiction, frustration, boredom (despite the revolution in the entertainment industry), complexities in the family matters, and so on,” ISIS-K says in the article. “However, the most of the US ‘high paid’ think tanks have drawn conclusion that the proliferation and availability of guns on the soil is the root cause for gun related deaths. But they can’t suggest a practical way of coming out of this vicious cycle.”

The terror group finally revealed their ideological motive in expressing concern about mass shootings committed by perpetrators other than their own operatives, declaring that America “never considered that their pointless war on Islam, in the name of ‘war on terror,’ will be answered in a divinely dictated way, when a shooter having nothing to do with Islam and ‘radicalization’ (in their words) welcomes a mass gathering of US civilians with several rounds of automatic rifle, scoring death toll like the ‘zombies’ do in video games.”

“The Americans will be paid back in such a divine way, from the Lord of the worlds, until they step back from their bellicose foreign policy,” the article concludes. “Besides, they should never forget that the reckoning in the hands of the mujahidin upon the truth is still remaining until the Khilafah soldiers invade their land, which is thousands of miles away from the conflict zones, and offer them unpleasant payback.”

In a May issue, the magazine invoked recent hot-button elements of the culture war and talking points arising from debate over issues including sex education, LGBT acceptance and the teaching of evolution as the group argued that “democracy and all that emanates from it is retarded and perverse” and attempted to woo recruits to their extremism.

“These democracies teach children, as young as six, about sex and sexually transmitted diseases as part of their curriculum, together with drug abuse in order to prevent the new generation from being influenced by the widespread ills of their societies,” the ISIS-K article said. “There is a culture of free mixing in the educational institutions where they are encouraged to learn, try and test sexual activities between themselves. Homosexuality is taught as something that is normal and part of the genetic makeup and that we should be tolerant of people of such tendencies. The education is secular taught from the angle of atheism using insane and refuted ideas, such as evolution, to try and fill the void.”

“Do you really want to live in a society that has no bounds allowing and tolerating all possible views and practices?” the terror group said in the article’s conclusion.

The fifth issues of Voice of Khurasan declared that disseminating disinformation is a “duty” of jihadists in order to deceive and ultimately divide their foes and should be considered “part of the war policy.” Deploying different types of weaponry is critical for “demonstrating strength,” ISIS argued, as is “spreading rumors to strike fear into the heart of the enemy.”

In their third issue, ISIS-K declared that a concerted focus on “social media warfare” is critical to advance on the ideological battlefield but also in order to counter the pull of “enchanting” social media influencers.

Voice of Khurasan was first published in February, with a 37-page inaugural issue. The page counts have varied since then, with the fourth issue just 10 pages long and the current issue up to 24 pages.

In that first issue, the group declared that theirs is the “most important province” of ISIS after Iraq and Syria. The magazine furthered the long-running ISIS narrative that the loss of the group’s claimed caliphate in Iraq and Syria is “temporary,” adding that “although we lost the Khilafah territory and thousands of Mujahideen were martyred in a period of 5 years, there is no problem.”